A New Dawn
by MelanyWinchester
Summary: The mystery of identity is a powerful thing, and the Volturi must fight against this mystery when a new gifted vampire starts making a mess. Alec finds himself involved, and the true identity of the shifting vampire makes Aro face one of the hardest decisions of his existence: to break his own rules or to lure a jewel of history under his wing.
1. Chapter 1 - Shifting

Rodrigo's eyes couldn't leave the ones of his flesh and blood reflection, the echo of his screams tooted against the walls of the room even as the one holding him down told him not to scream. One small line on Rodrigo's arm glistened red with the flowing of fresh blood; and he could see, in the deep dark crimson eyes of the man on top of him, that to which he could truly only refer to as bloodlust. The moonlight shone brightly outside the window, illuminating the corners of the small house nearly as if the day were still young; even with such brightness Rodrigo knew that no one would come to his rescue, for he'd heard of the murders in the island, there'd been six so far, all the same, bodies drained of blood and set somewhere in the island to see like an artistic bloodless tableau; and the island was truly so small that everyone knew the names and lives of those departed.

Yet he never thought it would happen to him; isn't that how every murder victim thought? Walking along the streets of the places they once thought safe, not even that carefully because how could this ever happen to him? Well, he'd been wrong; it was happening to him now, and he knew no one would stop it. Everyone around the island knew to look the other way when a house echoed with the screams of another; he was alone to die. "Estoy loco!" He yelled, trying to move away from the grasp of the man on top of him. What other explanation could there be but him being absolutely bonkers? He was looking at a man that was nothing more than the very mirroring image of himself holding him down; only the eyes of the other Rodrigo were bright red.

"Stop moving, you abominable bastard!" The creature with the red eyes said, and that only made Rodrigo scream louder; not only did the creature look like him but it _sounded_ like him; with such perfect English that he knew he could have _never _been able to speak.

"DEMONIO" Rodrigo yelled at the creature holding him down, but it only laughed, making the hairs at the back of Rodrigo's hair stand completely on end.

"A demon, you say?" It asked incredulously with a wide evil smile that scared Rodrigo to see in a clear mirror of his own features. "No, I'm much better." It said just before leaning closer to his face; its hands continued to hold Rodrigo's both arms down as the light rustling sound of the palm trees dancing with the midnight breeze tooted from the outside. When the creature was finally low enough to have its lips less than an inch away from Rodrigo's ear, it whispered. "I'm the devil himself." And then Rodrigo screamed even louder; when he did, the creature's back straightened and the most chilling wave of laughter left its lips. Rodrigo's eyes couldn't part from it, and suddenly as its laughter continued the features that had so incredibly mirrored Rodrigo's only a moment ago started shifting, twisting slowly until the image of the person holding him down was that of a woman; her hair was the deepest shade of dark that only became darker with the shadows of the night, her skin shining pale against the moonlight, her slim body continued to hold him down, and all Rodrigo could do was scream.

Her laugher and his screaming mixed like music against the soft sounds of the night, yet she knew that she'd played enough with her food. Her laughter subsided and her glistening red optics danced until she was sure that Rodrigo's own brown ones we looking directly at her, and with a movement that seemed to be faster than any other, she sank her teeth deeply into his throat; Rodrigo felt as his body weakened, his will to continue screaming disappeared almost immediately, he knew his life was ending, _This is how they've all died..._ he thought, _eaten by a monster..._ He didn't even realise when his screams stopped, but everything around him disappeared when, even with his eyes wide open, everything all went black.

* * *

They day had lighted up with life once the sun appeared, the sound of the waves of the ocean were truly the only sound surrounding the island; even as everyone woke up, they were quiet. Carolina, the town historian, walked scared along the streets as per usual on an early morning, moving to reach her small bookshop in the middle of the town; she was always the first in that place, yet now she wished she'd waited a little longer to leave. The thought of her baby boy and teenage daughter living in a place where the screams of dying people were ignored by everyone made her uneasy, yet how could they not? They were all scared of dying; even the sheriff. Carolina's hands trembled for a couple of seconds when she dared look toward Rodrigo's house, she'd known him very well, and she couldn't even grasp the fact that he was... She looked away quickly and walked faster. She couldn't dare let herself think about it; walk along, _liv_e, she thought and continued her small journey to the town square.

Carolina knew she had a book to finish, a story to continue, and above all, two children to take care of. She had to go on, fight until she could leave and pray that Ariana's cry for help to the world would be heard in the name of this place; she knew they needed it, the help. Carolina searched for her keys in her bag, moving along the last turn for the town square just the way she always did every morning; finally her eyes shifted and dared look up; and that's when she saw it. The fountain in the middle of the square didn't look at all like every morning, it was adorned by the most sadistic form of art she could have ever found, one hand looked as if it were trying to escape the fountain's waters, body parts made a small bloodless isle toward it on the sandy floor, but a head was neatly placed at the very top of the stone structure and it wasn't until she walked a little closer, when she saw the very open eyes and mouth of Rodrigo Mendoza, that she let out the loudest scream the town would ever hear.

From a dark corner in an alley near the town square _she_ smirked. Her work had finally been found.

~~~~~~Four days later...~~~~~~

Alec Greco had been taking a much needed cleansing walk through the castle's gardens when Giovanna had announced that Master Aro wanted a word with him; and as he made his way over to the very large empty marble room he took a deep, unneeded, breath of air and expelled it out in a sigh. It seemed to him as if once he and his sister Jane were home and finally settled back into a routine, they were sent out on another mission; always together, almost never separated. Sometimes Alec wished he could be as "normal" as Afton was, almost always on the caste's grounds with his companion; or at least somewhere closer to Volterra than, say, Russia or the Americas. When Alec finally made it to the big doors he stepped back, for they were opening slowly, and Heidi had, with a little sway to her hips, started coming out; yet Alec wondered why her features looked upset instead of the usual satisfied look she carried, when she looked at him she shook her head. "I'll tell you later." She voiced before making her way quick down that long hallway. Alec's brows rose before his head finally turned to look inside the giant room; he started moving and only stopped when he was a few inches away from the marble stairs that led up to the three golden thrones. "Ah, Alec." Aro said with a strange smile crossing his features; at this Alec bowed.

"Master." He murmured before standing straight and looking at Aro completely. He was alone in the room; Caius and Marcus probably in their quarters or somewhere in the castle, yet that alone made Alec realise that this was probably not even that important a matter. "I can only assume you have a mission for us." Alec voiced without being able to leave the plural out of his sentence. "How can we be of service?"

It wasn't until Aro offered Alec a folder that he realised he'd been holding something in his hands; Alec took it and opened it, allowing his eyes to scan the contents: a pain of plane tickets and a map of the Atlantic, a red mark circling the destination that both Jane and himself would be leaving for. "We will be sending you out of the country and to this small island near Mexico." Aro confided. "It would seem one of our kind has taken to indulging more than they should."

It was all Alec could do to keep the internal sigh that wrestled within him; he was never, _ever_, sent anywhere without his sister; probably Aro's favourite of the duo, unless it was just out of reach of the city or within the castle walls. Alec hated it, but what could he do? "Are we to leave tonight, or tomorrow?" He asked, finally looking up toward his master.

"You must leave at once." Aro announced; his hands holding each other nearly on a praying manner. "I expect you both will not be missing your flights." He gazed down at Alec as if he were wearing the spectacles of an aged man. "The last time we sent you somewhere by air you missed two connecting flights, child."

Alec's lips lifted in the closest version of a smile he dared show Aro. "I am aware." He said, truly for him it was a fond memory; he and Jane had realized it was their birthday weekend and had "accidentally" missed their flights. When they'd returned Aro had acted as if he didn't know the truth, but of course the twins knew better. "I can assure you that won't happen again." His eyes remained on his master as his hands moved to close the folder; he held it with both hands. "I assume you want this problem _dealt_ with?" He asked, using the word evidently to claim a less harsh way of saying "killed."

"Indeed." Aro nodded, "Please do try to do as much damage control as possible, the both of you. We've been exposed enough."

"Of course, Master." Alec said.

"You may leave." And with that Aro turned around, clearly the conversation was over and he was able to return to the matters he'd been worried about from his conversation with Heidi. Alec bowed, none the less and turned around to leave toward the door he'd come in from without speaking. He could tell Master Aro wanted to be left alone, and Heidi's strange glance while she left only made Alec wonder what exactly was happening. It didn't matter for him, anyway; he and his sister had a mission now. Alec closed the giant door behind him and made his way to Jane's chambers. It seemed duty called once more.

**To Be Continued.**


	2. Chapter 2 - History

Carolina Mendoza, the town's historian, sat at the side of her baby boy's crib, a thick book rested in her lap, and the words that left her lips did so in a calm and soothing tone; her eyes remained on the book, but now and then her eyes would dance to see if the story had taken its effect on the baby's sleep. "King Henry VIII wouldn't dare upset his people a second time..."

"He's not even a year old and you're already boring him with your history lessons, Caro." Carlos said in a very fluent Spanish, his eyes traveling from the sleeping baby in the crib to his beloved wife; Carlos' smile was an amused one, yet it was full of love and wonder for Carolina as he approached her with silent calm.

Carolina's eyes lifted as soon as her husband's voice reached her ears, and her tale was interrupted; though she hated Carlos' amusing remarks about her life in history, she found his smile instantly reassuring. As she closed the book as quietly as she could while looking at her now sleeping baby, she stood from the chair; she moved her hand lightly in a forwards movement to motion her husband out of the baby's room. The couple tiptoed out of the room and remained as quiet as they could be until the white wooden door to the boy's room was completely shut. Carolina finally dared look at Carlos, a happy smile crossing her features. "He's a baby. The more he knows about history the better."

"He's a baby, Caro." Carlos said while he pulled his wife into his protective arms. "He doesn't even know what you're telling him."

"Ahh." Carolina laughed as quietly as she could, remaining as close to Carlos as she could; the truth was that since the day she'd seen the horrendous blood-filled tableau on the town's fountain she'd found herself in more need of protection that ever; she felt powerless and fragile. Yet, whenever she was around Carlos, she felt like she couldn't be safer. Caro's arms moved to push her away from Carlos only enough so she could look into his eyes. "You're wrong. Reading these things to him are like teaching him a new language, his brain is still so young that he learns faster than anyone. That's the gift of a baby. And it's-" Carolina's words were suddenly interrupted by the sound of metal clashing against the sandy ground outside her small house. The couple's eyes wiped to the side where the sound had come from; they were quiet, for they knew that no sound at night meant a good thing in this island.

The only sound in the house was that of the breathing of the couple, that lasted nearly a full minute after the metallic sound echoed from the alley. "It's probably just a cat making a garbage can fall." Carlos said, his eyes turning to see Carolina only after he finished speaking. Carolina's fear pumped through her veins making her unable to speak; the only thing she could see in her mind was the bloodless image in the fountain. "Come on." Carlos pulled her along, trying to break her away from her trance. " Let's go to bed."

Carolina followed as if in a complete trance.

* * *

"Please, please don't, don't hurt them, don't- NO!" Carolina's cries echoed around the small house as the red-eyed woman's actions silenced Carlos' screams of pain. People say the worst feeling in the world is the one you feel when you see your child dead, and now Carolina knew that they were wrong; the world's worst pain was to see her own child be murdered in front of her. The only reassuring sound was that of the cries of her baby boy, still alive, in the other room.

"Sorry to disappoint." The short haired red-eyed girl said as she finally let go of the limp body of Carolina's husband; a thin red line dripped from the corner of her mouth down to her chin, the red of the blood contrasted majestically against her deeply pale skin. Carolina wanted to move but anytime she tried, her newly broken arms and legs hurt in agonising pain that made her want to scream. The red-eyed woman took the few steps left to stand right in front of the broken Carolina.

"Why are you doing this, Mariana?" Carolina yelled at the short haired girl; Carolina could recognize her from one of the history classes she gave to the teens in the island.

"Oh, stop." The red-eyed woman said as her eyes rolled. "I'm not Mariana; though it's nice to know her name. I can actually interact with people in the island now;" She said while her hand lifted calmly to remove the bloody line on her chin, "thank you for that." Slowly, she lowered herself until she was kneeling only inches away from Carolina. "By the way." She continued; Carolina looked at the woman with fear filled eyes. "That book of yours has a few mistakes." And with those last words, her features started shifting as if with magic; her hair started growing, the rounded and chubby face lengthened as she slowly leaned closer to Carolina. And even though Carolina had been wrong about the woman being Mariana, she still could very easily recognize, or speculate to recognize who the red-eyed woman in front of her actually was. And she could do nothing else but scream the loudest scream she had ever screamed.

* * *

The moon shone on the sky through a couple of clouds as she fixed the last little details of her brand new art. The bloodless body of Carolina kneeled on the sandy beach, held upright solely by a wooden log that she'd been impaled with. Her body hid it completely, though,_ she_ had barely used it to keep the body straight. A pearl white dress adorned Carolina's body; her old wedding dress, both her hands had been nailed together on a praying motion, her body clean in its impaled state yet her head lay sad apart from her body barely a few inches away.

A couple of inches behind Carolina, Carlos' body stood, also impaled to hold his body completely straight, dressed in a dark black suit. His head lowered to look at his headless wife, his hands also nailed together, but to hold a black wooden sword; a prop obtained in the little girl's toy trunk.

And lastly, the part that had been the hardest for her to adorn, was the little girl; the girl stood, impaled, upright, pale with her bloodless skin shining under the bright moonlight. Both her hands were nailed to her face in a way that it seemed as if they hid her face in sadness. The tableau rained with meaning for the red-eyed woman, yet even then her lips lifted in a satisfied expression; not all that had come out from the new art adoring the beach was pain.

From somewhere far away in the island; in the now completely empty house of Carolina Mendoza, a young baby cried, wishing, in his lonely little room, that his mother would come comfort him the way that she never would do again.

**To Be Continued.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Mirrors

Alec and Jane had ended up connecting to another aeroplane, one that didn't hold more than 20 people on its flight, and landed without delay on the small island. They had made an attempt to see the pilot off, but it seemed he was either spooked by he and Jane, or something else; he guessed the latter. With their bags left in the capable confines of a locker at the small landing are in the tiny airport, with plenty of complaining on Jane's part, they made their way throughout the town, that was nearly deserted of any life, and felt highly aware that something major was haunting the little town. "It's quiet." Alec said in a low voice toward her blonde twin.

"Too quiet." Jane's monotone voice didn't waver as they walked along the streets; heading for the direction of the only scent that wasn't anywhere close to human. Yet, when they looked down the small cliff where they stood, Alec was able to see motion somewhere close, and after a short couple of seconds of sharing a knowing look with her twin, they moved.

They made their way down the cliff and towards the beach with ghost-like silence as both twins remained looking at the small gathering of figures, of which only one seemed to be animated. Of course, Jane didn't waste any time before she allowed her gift to expand and torture the moving woman, whose actions with the frozen figures, figures that Alec realized were deceased impaled humans, stopped abruptly to let out a pain-filled yelp as her work turned forgotten while her knees met the ground. She tried making herself smaller, as if that alone would make the horrendous pain go away. "Stop!" She yelled desperately as her naturally red eyes searched for what could possibly be causing her that pain.

They made their way towards the screaming woman on the floor, her cries of anguish caused Alec's lips to curl into a tempting smirk. Jane's gift on the woman was working splendidly; the cries only made the situation the more sweet for the twins. "Looks like someone's been a bad girl." Alec chanted with the omnipresent smirk. He shared a look with Jane, and walked ahead of her to pull the screaming woman upwards from the ground; flinching for a short second, without letting go, when the woman's skin jolted him for the shortest moment. His brows creased together as he looked back toward Jane, yet, when he chose to look back at the woman who had so suddenly stopped screaming, he felt his eyes widening in surprise as he witnessed the once perfectly feminine features of the person he held, change and shift right in front of him until he was looking right at a perfect mirror of himself. "Dio..." He whispered a couple of seconds before the perfect clone still in his firm grasp decided to speak too. "You don't want to do this." Alec's voice said back at him, and as if in perfect repulsion, Alec quickly let go of the shifted person only long enough for him to speed to his sister and expand his own power toward the once screaming subject; a dark cloud misted around his double, a spark of fear winding its way around Alec as he spoke in a hushed voice toward Jane. "What are your thoughts, sister?" He allowed Jane a break in her powers to speak to him, as he flopped his double's pain for complete and total nothingness.

"This is peculiar." Jane confided as she stared at the perfect copy of her brother sitting confusedly on the ground, knowing that the mind of the once girl was probably gone with confusion at the way she could think she was most likely dead.

"Quite different. Nothing I've ever seen before." Alec agreed as he nodded and looked away from the spit image of himself on the ground and toward his sister.

"We should take her to Aro." Jane's crimson optics finally danced away from the double as she looked straight at the original life version of her brother. "I am sure he would appreciate a brand new toy. We'll let him choose her..." Jane paused for a second while she looked back at the shifted subject on the ground; could she really call it a woman? It had been a few moments ago... "..._it's_ fate." she finally finished.

The real Alec nodded and followed his sister's eyes to look at his double, taking in an unneeded breath before he tugged his vicious cloud away from the person on the floor, only enough for it to have its senses back, but close enough that Alec could use it again in a moment's notice. "Who are you?" He started. "And don't tell lies; the Volturi don't _appreciate_ liars."

Jane watched as the other Alec looked confusedly around him, and his eyes switched toward her brother, while in a slightly shaken voice he spoke. "Volturi? Who are _you?" _Jane's brows shot upwards in disbelief at the double's words. "How did you...?" The double stood up as quickly as he could, which looked a little slow compared to the normal speed vampires could move in; still dumbfounded, Jane looked at Alec, who had chosen that moment to share a look with her too. Clearly both twins were slightly confused, for every undead being should be aware of the existence of the Volturi.

"We were sent here to kill you." The real Alec finally said as his eyes shifted toward the man in front of him. "But I think it would be in your best interest to come with us instead. That is, if you wish to live." Alec paused for a moment while his eyes studied the complete figure of his double; his head tilting slightly to the side almost in deception. He truly wished to kill anyone who dared wear his face to confront him. "And I would advise you... _shift_ into your actual body."

The double's eyes shifted from Alec to Jane for a moment, but slowly it's features started changing again, slowly transforming into the short haired woman that the twins had first encountered when they approached the beach. The woman's eyes studied Alec for a moment, knowing full well that she had not managed to survive for as long as she had only to be killed by that... child. "Where are we going then?" She said in a voice that made Jane smirk for the way it's tone pretended to hide the fear behind it.

"Italy." Alec answered her with a smirk that mirrored Jane's. "And, of course," he continued, "I think you know what will happen if you try to run." He allowed his cloud of nothingness to blanket the woman's sides, just enough to give her a reminder of what she had felt, before reeling it in and ghosting forward to catch the woman's arm.

Her brow furrowed as Alec's words warned her, yet she couldn't understand what he meant; at least until she started to be unable to feel a thing on her hand and arm. And the frown disappeared into what looked to Alec like a desperate look that only made him let out an amused wave of satisfied laughter as he saw the woman realise what had happened.

But to her, at that very moment, as she realised that the reason she had felt such an incredible numbness had been because of him, Alec suddenly stopped looking like just a child.

**To Be Continued.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Similarities

It had been a long trip; Jane and Alec had been bickering the whole way, a fact that had the woman sniggering the entire time. Alec was actually more annoyed with Jane for the pointless bickering than the woman for finding their relationship somewhat amusing. When the twins arrived along with their still unknown prisoner back into the Volturi castle in Volterra, they were greeted with the news that Aro had gone out in business; which meant that for democratic reasons Caius and Marcus could not make decisions about matters such as the one about the woman's life. So, with a very unamused and quite bored expression, Marcus had ordered Alec to take the woman to the dungeons until Aro returned.

Alec had a vice grip on the woman's upper arm, taking her down the passageway to her housing cell. Jane had decided she had had enough of the "family bonding and told Alec to piss off, in the most friendly sense of the words. And, anyway, Alec had been told explicitly by Caius to watch the woman while she was there. Which, to his annoyance, meant that he would be playing cell guard. Snorting inwardly, he took a left and headed down the steps with the woman in tow.

"You don't have to grip my arm in such a tight manner, you know?" The woman said to Alec seconds before he so unceremoniously shoved her inside the cell; she fell forward so suddenly that if she hadn't held herself against a wall she would have pathetically fallen to the dirty ground.

"I know." A slow smirk sauntered onto Alec's lips as he closed the cell gate and stepped backward to collapse into a seat that had been placed there previously. "You might as well sit." He motioned to a chair inside the dusty cell. "Goddess knows when Aro will be back to deal with you."

Alec observed as the woman looked around her, taking in the dirty small imitation of a bed cornered against the brick walls and the black dusty chair that Alec had been talking about. Her hands lifted to dust her clothes off before she finally decided to sit. "You should be kinder to prisoners who don't fight you, boy." She murmured as her features shifted into a disgusted frown.

"I should." Alec admitted with a firm nod as he lifted a leg to cross an angle to his knee. "But, then again, it's not every day you have a _prisoner_ who transforms into you." His eyes searched the woman as she finally looked up toward him. "_Which,_ by the way, I would love an explanation to. We have all the time in the world."

If looks could kill, Alec felt like he would be frozen on the ground with no life left inside him after the look the woman had so boldly given him; it amused him, yet that look didn't last long before the woman decided to speak. "So you really need an explanation?" She questioned. "You seem to possess an unusual trait as well."

Her eyes never wavered, which only made Alec's smile turn into a satisfied smirk when he saw her very clearly shiver at what he thought was the clear memory of what he had done to her. He shrugged. "My talents are different from yours, lady." His long smooth fingers moved to dust his knee off from a couple of small dust particles that had decided to rest there. "And we're stuck together until we're summoned, or I get hungry." His eyes lifted to look at the woman again. "So we might as well quell the silence."

The woman set her hands on her lap, one on top of the other, as she looked straight into Alec's eyes. Such manners seemed completely out of place in a location like the one they were in, and Alec could see she was reluctant to talk, but after what felt to him like a rather long time, he watched, rather than heard, as the woman gulped. "I'm sure it's somewhat the same, bo- um..." The woman paused before the full word "boy" left her lips; a fact that only made Alec smirk deeper; he was sure that the thing that had made her stop was the memory of the feeling, or lack thereof, of his gift on her, she probably felt like that sole word was misplaced with him. "What's your name?" She asked; he'd been right.

Alec considered lying to the woman, but, of course, that wouldn't be exactly logical. As he thought that given the woman's gifts, she was most likely to be offered a position in the guard. "You can call me Alec." He finally admitted as he continued staring at the woman in the cell.

"Right." She nodded once before letting out an unnecessary sigh. "Alec." She started. "I'm sure it's got the same basic roots as your gift. I can..." The woman's voice faded away as she wondered how to explain it. Alec simply waited. "When I come in physical contact with someone, anyone, as small as the contact may be, their image seems seared into my brain. And... for some reason I can make whomever lays eyes on me see me as that person." Her eyes finally lifted once more to look at Alec. "I don't exactly _shift._ I sort of just... put on a mental mask. Like a layer or sorts."

Alec's smirk fell unconsciously as he tried to wrap his mind around the woman's gift; it didn't seem like she completely understood it herself, but Alec knew _he_ didn't. "Since you were turned?" He questioned as he uncrossed his leg and leaned forward, resting both his elbows on his knees.

The woman nodded. "Yeah." Alec's brows rose again. "I... I embraced my sister. And shortly after I went into the sunlight. I could see the strange..." The woman frowned as she searched for words. "The unnatural way that my skin glistened; but I was scared. No one else seemed to notice it, though." She nodded once more. "Later on, I realised I hadn't exactly wanted them to see my skin glistening, and my brain had mimicked my sister's skin. That was the first time I noticed something was... unusually different with me."

Alec blinked unconsciously, humanly, as he leaned back in his seat. "Not to burst your bubble or anything, but that's not the worst you could have gone through." His memory was fuzzy previous to his transformation, but he could remember the fire, the fury in his and Jane's village's eyes as they chanted the word "witch" over and over again. "The people in England were very unkind." The words left his lips as unconsciously as his previous actions.

Yet, he was surprised when he heard the woman scoff, making his eyes fall on her again. "You're telling me." She said, in a tone that nearly mimicked one of a mere conversation happening solely between friends as they shared a drink or a game of chess. "Anything different..." She continued as Alec stared in curiosity. "Anything that didn't go as planned... They called unholy." If he didn't know better, he'd think he was visiting his memories as well, for the woman suddenly seemed... haunted by her own past.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he gave a firm nod toward the woman. "Unholy, wrong, something to be extinguished." Delving into the woman's crimson hues, he searched for some sort of answer as to why she would know anything about English unfairness of the unknown. "What was your name, again?" He asked curiously.

The woman's eyes fell to her hands, and a long moment of silence annoyed Alec as he watched the woman ponder over what to say. Could she possibly lie to him? Would she make up a name and lie to him? "Mariana." She finally said, and she sounded convincing enough. Alec nodded just as she lifted her eyes to see him. "My name is Mariana."

"Mariana." He tested the word on his lips before he rose himself from the seat he'd been on, to stand, taking the short step forward to offer his hand through the bars to the woman. "Alec Greco." He said. "You could say I'm your knight in shining armour, given the circumstances." A smirk toyed at the corners of his lips, but he didn't give into their temptation.

Her eyes fell to look at Alec's hand, and a couple of seconds later she stood from her own chair to shake it. Her eyes rose slowly to look right into the familiar crimson in Alec's eyes and she nodded. "If you're my knight in shining armour, as you call it, next time you grab my arm you should consider doing so a little less harshly."

Alec's lips seemed unable not to give into the smirk that tugged at them as she spoke. "I didn't say I was a white knight, did I?" Letting go of her hand, he turned to slide back into his seat to comfortably cross his legs and lean back with crossed arms.

The moment her hand slumped to her side, she took the one step back to sit on the dusty chair before her eyes rolled slightly at Alec's words. "Not all the good things come in white, you know, Alec?"

"Point taken." Alec nodded with the smirk playing on his lips as he looked down. Maybe talking to this Mariana girl wouldn't be as dreadful as he first thought it would be.  
**  
To Be Continued.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Intuition

The day was warm, not that either Alec or his prisoner noticed it; she sat on the dusty old bed as calmly and comfortably as she could be, with her life on the line, inside a cell smaller than even the living room of one of the cabins from the little island she'd so haunted for weeks. Her legs rested long and stretched on the hard surface of the strangely placed and poorly taken care of mattress, and her back rested against the brick of one of the walls in her old cell. A notebook, Alec noticed, rested on her lap, and the pencil she held in her hand moved along in little motions in between the few glances that her slightly darkened crimson hues made upon him for no longer than a few seconds each time. Yet, every time he noticed one of those strange looks was about to happen, he'd look away, pretending to be more interested on the book in his hands; he didn't exactly want her to notice how he looked at her with curiosity, how his eyes scanned across her features, taking in each curve and line as her eyes fixated on her little notebook. It was probably odd, given the circumstances. Yet, when his prisoner looked away from him again, Alec decided to lean against his knees to glance at the notebook she'd given the attention to for the past few hours; curiosity was truly eating at him. "What are you doing, Mariana?" His voice nearly mirrored that of a curious little boy.

"It's not ready." She abruptly said as, reflectively, she pulled the notebook closer toward her, blocking the plain unfinished drawing from Alec's prying eyes. Alec felt his brows rising, and only then, as her own crimsons stared into his, did a small version of a smile cross her lips. "It's a drawing." She said, "It's not ready to be seen yet."

His eyes narrowed for a moment at his prisoner, but then, he allowed himself to lean back on his seat, sudden curiosity overpowering him at such level that his next words came out uncensored. "Are you ready to show me the real you, then, at least?" His eyes fell to the book on his lap, but then they widened slightly as he looked up at her again. Her eyes were wide on her notebook, and her hand was completely frozen. "Shit." Alec started apologetically. "Sorry, forget it. You don't have to answer that." To be truly honest, not even Alec knew why he'd allowed himself to speak such words.

The silence between them seemed slightly too heavy for the few moments both vampires decided to stay quiet, but after a moment that Alec felt was slightly too long, so long that he'd even looked down at his book again; not focusing, but wishing his foot wasn't so deep into his mouth, she finally spoke. "What makes you think this isn't the real me, Alec?" Her eyes were on him when he looked up to see her, and her tone sounded calm, yet fake; ironic, after the question she was answering.

"I'm not sure." Alec admitted. He wasn't going to pry, but now that the subject had been taken up he wasn't about to let her drop it as quick as a dead fly on a winter night. He didn't know why those words had been the first to come out from his lips loudly and unwanted; he knew it'd been completely uncalled for, but with his prisoner's gift... how could he be sure the face she showed was the one she'd been born with. "Is it?"

Her eyes remained on Alec, and he could hear her breathing, though unnecessary, slightly calm. Her eyes lowered slowly to look down to her notebook again, before her short dark locks bounced against her pale cheeks as she shook her head. "No." She voiced as the pencil in her hands resumed its dancing as if it had never stopped. "It's not."

"Hm." Was all Alec could say, a smirk playing along his lips, to keep from yelling "I WAS FUCKING RIGHT!" He was about to open his mouth to speak, to tell her that he didn't mean to pressure her into showing herself to him, when Jane walked slowly toward the cell without any notice other than the cute soft sound of the heels of her shoes against the rock floor.

"Alec." Jane said quickly, and he could tell simply by the way she looked at him, that it was her turn to care of the prisoner; and he knew she wouldn't just watch her. He almost felt bad for little Mariana and her notebook with doodles. Almost. "Heidi has come in with brand new _recruits."_ Jane informed him. "Go get fed, brother."

Alec, of course, showed no other emotion other than relief as he stood from his seat, with his book in hand, to retrieve his cloak from the back of his chair. "I don't think I have to remind you not to try and escape, do I?" Alec's eyes moved toward the suddenly frightened looking woman. And he could tell, simply by the way her eyes shifted with fear between Jane and himself, that she knew very well what awaited her. Again, he almost felt bad for her; nonetheless, he decided to finish his thought when her eyes locked on him once again. "A pretty girl like you wouldn't like her head ripped off, now, would she?"

"My head's been cut off before." The girl said, with a nearly automatic voice. Such that Alec, who'd looked away to motion his sister to get comfortable in the chair he'd been using, turned to look at her with a transfixed expression. "It didn't do anything." His prisoner continued. "I woke up in a coffin two days later."

Alec's head tilted to the side in genuine confusion. His threat had somewhat backfired, and he didn't exactly understand why. "What?" He'd asked as anger started rising inside him, yet his voice remained calm, as his eyes rolled on absolute annoyance. "Just behave." He said in a quick order toward the girl before her turned toward Jane, without waiting from any reply from the woman behind bars, to nod his head. "Sister." He paused for a second. "Have fun." He said before he turned to leave the death-filled cells.

The last thing that Alec could hear as he walked away, confusion and anger still printed all over his features, were the loud painful screams, full of desperation, of his mysterious and confusing prisoner.

**To Be Continued.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Theatrics

Alec's steps echoed in the empty and lamp lit hallway toward his prisoner's cell; as he walked and rested his eyes on his smirking sister, he knew that Mariana's time hadn't been an easy one to go through, and when he saw her, he realised he'd been right. The dust particles had become her only pleasant companion in the small jail. She sat pathetically in a corner of the small rock cell, her back was straight, her eyes were closed and her hands were both crossed upon her lap.

Jane's eyes nearly tore a hole into the prisoner, yet she'd found the woman's slightly pathetic position absolutely amusing. _Caius told me to keep an eye on you, _Jane had said, _not to make your stay a pleasant one. _"Sister," Alec interrupted Jane's deep musings of torture. "You may go now." he announced once Jane's eyes fell on him with nearly that same death stare she'd been sending the now very aware girl in the cell. "Master Aro has instructed me to fetch the prisoner." A light smirk danced on his lips as he looked toward the girl he spoke about. Jane didn't bother to speak, and Alec could tell that Jane was maybe slightly unhappy to not have what she would call a toy to play with anymore. Alec's eyes followed his sister as she left, but then he turned to look at Mariana, his hands moving to open the door of her cell.

The girl was standing defeated from her spot in the corner, pulling the strap of the little bag she'd carried from the moment the twins saw her over her head. "You won't be able to take anything with you." Alec's voice tooted on the brick walls of the solitary cell as courteous as he dared make it. He knew he could see behind her mask; she was afraid. Of him? Of Aro? He wasn't sure exactly, but he did think, with genuine pity, that his prisoner was solely scared for her own life. For Alec had seen the look on her face before, in many other people, but the memory that hit him the most was the blurry version of the memory of his twin sister many millennia ago as they were both about to be casted into the fire that once stole their humanity.

The girl's eyes looked into Alec's crimsons, and he could see, by the way she hesitated on moving to remove her bag, that something clearly important to her was hiding in its confines. But a few moments later her head shook and she finally let go of the bag, letting it drop carefully on the old dusty bed she'd been resting on a few moments ago. Her eyes lowered, Alec noticed, as if they were haunted by the memory of something in her past. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly that was. Growing impatient, Alec motioned for her to step out, his hand on one of the bars of the door just a few seconds before he decided to reach for her arm, squeezing it tightly as he normally would, but then his conversation with her a few days ago came into mind, and his grip loosened. Moving swiftly, he directed her towards the long hallway that lead to the darker portion of the dungeon. "Bloody hell." She whispered, to which Alec, whose eyes had been resting on her uncomfortably scared features, simply chuckled. "What's so bleeding funny?" She asked.

Alec's head shook, and instead of replying to her, he simply let her find her own way in the dark. He didn't mind taking the long way to Aro's workroom, but he was lacking in entertainment, so his prisoner would have to do for now. "I'm taking you somewhere I would never be caught in." He admitted with a smirk replaying across his lips, because technically he knew he wasn't lying.

"Never be..." She started speaking, but then her eyes narrowed in search of Alec. "Where are we...?"

And as she asked this Alec watched as the tips of her short hair graced the soft paleness of her cheeks as she turned around. Alec's lips broke into a wicked grin, for he could see the fear that she had neglected to show slowly beginning to fade into her features, amusing Alec far more than it should. His hand lifted to motion in the air for his prisoner to turn back around. "Keep going." He said lowly before recapturing her arm in a slightly gentle grip.

As the girl moved, Alec could almost see the wheels turning inside her mind, for her lips parted unnecessarily to let out slightly jaded breaths, as if she had a heart that had quickened with the fear of her close demise. "Where are we going, Alec?" She asked nearly frantically. "Are... Are you going to kill me?"

Alec had to admit he was enjoying her display of fear a little too much, but unfortunately for him, his entertainment was about to be over, for they'd finally reached the exit they'd been walking towards. The light from the room pooled in once he opened the door, and he could feel the way she jumped back at the brightness of the lights. He'd forgotten she hadn't seen any light other than the dim lamps in the dungeon for around a month and a half. "Kill you?" He asked innocently as he pulled her along with him into the long, brightly lit hallway, before he closed the door. Once he did so, he turned around to look at the very confused and slightly unamused girl. "Why would I do that?" His hand lowered from her arm to let her make her own way down the hallway, just before he pointed towards a staircase at the end. "We're going that way, Mariana."

"What?" She asked transfixed.

"Go on." Alec paused as he waited for his prisoner to start walking. He almost felt guilty for scaring her. Almost. They walked along in silence, and Alec didn't bother taking hold of her arm again; he trusted her enough not to run, the theatrics were over, and if she did try, well, she didn't have a lot of places to go to before he made her feel as dead as Aro would make her be.

After a short moment, he decided to take the lead, making their way upstairs and towards the lesser known area of the castle, until the clearly more scared girl and him stood at the entrance of the Master's workroom. Alec reached toward the giant wooden doors and opened them to reveal Aro with a small pile of papers resting on his desk. When Alec turned to look at his prisoner again, he could see how the fear had gotten slightly higher than before, so, without exactly knowing why, he leaned closer to whisper in her ear. "Don't be afraid of him; all he wants is the truth."

All it took was those words for Aro's smiling features to turn to look toward the couple at the door. "Alec." He voiced, standing from his enormous velvet chair to lift his arms in welcome. "You've brought me our guest." His head inclined to study her with quiet admiration. "The one with the gift?"

Alec's head bobbed in a respectful nod toward his Master. "She is." _Who else would it be?_ He completed in his mind, but said absolutely nothing. He reached for her arm again, only to push her to stand closer to Aro, who'd rounded his desk to stand fully in front of it. Alec closed the doors quickly and stepped into a corner to solely observe once he was sure he had deposited her right in front of Aro.

As her nerves rose evidently, Alec's arms crossed, leaning against the wall closest to him. Aro's smile shone across his features as he grew conscious of the prisoner's nervousness. "Why don't we get this over with, my dear?" He asked in the most friendly tone that his voice could master, just as, without bothering with more tactics to make the girl's nerves grow, he extended a hand toward her.

Her brow furrowed as soon as her eyes set on Aro's extended hand; he awaited patiently until she, on her own, took it. _Alec said he only wanted the truth, _she thought; if she had a heart, it would be beating out of her chest, yet, confused she forced herself to take Aro's hand. Her lips parting to let in very unnecessary breaths.

Aro's eyes looked straight into hers as his free hand gently placed above hers. Her thoughts, memories and experiences threaded into his mind like the swift flow of the mirror-like waters of a waterfall; centuries upon centuries of them, any thought, any change this girl had made upon her body, they all played inside Aro's mind like a fast-forwarded movie, replaying it vividly the way he would his own memories. A long breathed gasp of excited surprise left his lips, making Alec's brows rise in curious boredom; and to Alec's surprise, that made his brows shift into a confused frown, he watched as his master let go of the girl's hand as, with a swift move, he tossed his robe to the side slightly, inclining his head forward so he could properly bow toward her. "Your highness." He said, rising himself slowly to look directly into her eyes one more time. "You are a long way from home."

Alec's eyes danced from Aro to that he thought of as his prisoner, leaning off of the wall as his arms uncrossed with a deep frown, that shone with eminent disbelief, creasing in the middle of his forehead. _Your _what!?

**To Be Continued**


	7. Chapter 7 - Royalty

Her eyes widened as the two words she hadn't heard be directed at her in centuries left the lips of the stranger in front of her. She forced herself to gulp the strange knot that had taken over her throat as her eyes studied Aro from head to toe, but her next words came only a note higher than a whisper. "How did you...?" Her eyes remained fixed on his respectful form at all times.

Aro ignored her question as his head shook only a little before he threw a glance to a completely transfixed Alec. "Our plans have changed." He informed him before returning his gaze to the queen in front of him. "You have, regretfully, still broken many laws of the Volturi, your majesty." He announced to the equally transfixed queen. "But I have something to offer you." An odd smile twisted his lips as he realised just the size of the jewel he could ward under his arm. "You are a royal exception, _dear one_. I am willing to grant you death..." The eyes of the girl and Aro's met in a communicative level, one in which Aro could easily see the amount of fear that she had just grown into, so to end the queen's torture, he continued. "...or a place among us."

Alec's frozen state only allowed him to stare between both people; he couldn't for the existence of him understand what exactly was happening in front of him. The only thing that he was sure of was that the girl he once thought of as his prisoner, now had to make a choice: to become a Volturi, to train and master the art... or to die; and he was rather sure he already knew which option the young _queen_ would choose. And as if it weren't enough, the veil of the image that Alec had so rightfully guessed to be fake a few weeks ago, slowly started shattering in front of him; the round features of the girl from the island started slowly fading into longer and finer ones, and the hair that had once been shoulder short, cascaded into a curly fall against her back. Was this her real self? Alec wondered as he stared at the young queen's back.

An event that only left Alec the more transfixed, resulted in a wave of excited clapping coming from the old Master who was also watching her. "I do not wish to die, my lord." Her voice, that now chimed in a soft soprano tone, that, to Alec, felt more natural coming from her, finally echoed around the room.

Aro's head shook as the smile that had lifted his features at the events that had occured in front of him made him realise just how high of an addition he had just made into his guard. "And so, you shall not." He voiced before an arm lifted to gesture toward an Alec that had just managed to move from his frozen state. "Alec shall take care of you, and teach you the ways of the Volturi." Alec's jaw locked as he realised that not only he still had no idea what was going on, but he had just been put on mentor duty to this new recruit. He didn't dare think much as he moved to open the door of the long room. "I have it on good authority that he has told you what can happen if you make an escape plan or attempt it." Aro continued, smiling a smile that Alec thought would crack his features before he saw the girl's, no, _queen's_ head bob in an affirmative nod. Alec's eyes rolled in slight annoyance as his master made such an incredible show of taking her hand to press his cold and dead lips against its back. "Welcome to Volterra, your majesty."

"Thank you, my lord." She said, as she allowed her body to lower in a small curtsy before she turned around to face what looked to her like a very annoyed Alec. A small smile was forced to remain on her lips, though she continued to fear that she was, as they say, still in the line of fire.

Alec's eyes fell on her once again, and this time, they widened slightly; the soft paleness of her features still looked human, yet at the same time, to him, her skin looked like porcelain. Her thin lips seemed rosy and warm, though Alec knew they couldn't be; and her long dark curls only highlighted the fairness of her skin, looking naturally like what he knew a vampire's features to look like. She was beautiful, Alec realised. "It looks like you have a lot to learn." He voiced, forcing himself to look away from her true features as he closed the doors of the big workroom.

"Learn?" She asked, looking directly at Alec. "What do you mean?"

As he walked, with her tagging along, he decided to look at her again. It was odd, he realised, to see this face on her, the hair, the brand new everything, though, it was clear that it wasn't new. _This has to be her real self, _he thought; he realised only now, that her features before looked _too_ human. When he looked into her eyes, though, he realised that her shinning crimson hues were the only thing that hadn't changed in her features; he didn't know why he felt thankful. "Master Aro gave you a choice." He said, forcing himself, once again and with a shrug, to look in front of him as if he didn't know where he was going. "Die or become one of us; you chose the latter, which means you have to train, learn how we operate, etcetera." He began walking towards the hall that housed the entire guard. Alec, of course, lived in the upper level (lower guard got the lower level), but he had _not_ been instructed to let the _queen_ out of his sight. He had to do everything in his power not to just question her privacy at that moment.

All she could do was think of what she'd chosen; of course she'd chosen not to die, she'd lived way too long to let all of it go to waste. Yet, her eyes remained on her guardian as she dared question him. "But what did I just join?" Confusion echoed in her natural soprano voice. "Who _are _you?"

Alec's whole body paused as he slowly turned to look wide eyed at her. "The Volturi." He said, merely pausing to see if she reacted in any way to the name. To be honest, he'd been thinking she was pretending not to know who they were at the beginning purely to seem tough, but when she didn't react, pure anger resonated in his next words. "Are you telling me you don't even know _that!?_" Her eminent silence was enough confirmation to his words. He took a step closer to her. "We're the government of all vampire kind. We're fucking _royalty_ in this day and age." As he paused, he swallowed absently to mock a bow toward the girl. "But it seems you are as well... _your highness." _His anger feigned rolling his eyes before rising to walk toward the few steps that lead toward his apartment in the big castle. He'd share it with her, for now. Or even give it to her, if needed. She needed a space, and he didn't exactly know where else to put her.

She followed along; her brow suddenly furrowing at Alec's words, which reminded her a little too much of her past, of the mocking tone she'd had thrown at her centuries ago. Which, of course, made anger cloud her own mind as well, and though her tone wasn't exactly loud, the next time she spoke, it sounded harsh. "I've been _hiding _for centuries, Alec. From everyone; if I ever crossed paths with another one like me, I ran or killed him before I could learn anything at all about his world. I've been living like a low-life human all these years, only truly accepting and facing what I was when I got to that bloody bit of island that you so kindly took me away from. I'm _sorry_ for not knowing who you are. I was too miserably busy trying to hide who _I _really was!" By the time she stopped speaking, Alec and herself were a step away from Alec's door, and she felt suddenly thankful that she didn't need to breathe, since she had actually been able to say all that, angrily, without a single pause.

Alec, though, turned slowly, cold hues cast upon his prisoner. He was _not_ her caretaker, and he didn't care that she was or was not some sort of royal in the past; he knew she was no such thing now. That this girl was _lower_ that he was; she was untrained, uneducated, and most definitely wasn't a threat. But if she turned out to be, that was exactly how he would treat her. He took a step forward, and another, and another until her back was nearly pressed against the nearest wall; Alec wanted to tell her she could quit acting all high and mighty, to tell her that right at that moment, he truly was her only friend, if she could even call him that, but instead, he fixated his eyes on hers and spoke lowly in a question. "And _who_ exactly are you,_ Mariana_?" At that moment, he wasn't even sure if that was her real name.

The eyes that had been so suddenly clouded with anger softened slowly into a worried shadow as soon as she found herself stuck between the one she thought of as her guardian and the wall behind her. Alec's eyes nearly drilled a hole inside her as he awaited for her answer, but she continued, even now, to refuse to show him just how much he was scaring her. She knew, though, that if that had been any other day, Alec's petty try at intimidation wouldn't have even phased her, but that day, that day she'd just escaped death's veil by a blink. Automatically, though, she started considering not telling Alec a thing; but Master Aro, as he addressed him, seemed to already know, and since he was the leader, she had realised, she figured everyone would eventually find out. So she decided to speak the truth at last, for the first time in nearly five hundred years, without looking away from the deep crimson eyes of the curly haired boy. "My name is not Mariana." She admitted, with a small pause that made Alec's brows rise in pretend surprise. "My name is Anne." It was as if she wanted to savour the very last moments of her hidden identity, as if that last name was the only thing covering her from the mask she'd worn for years; but, finally, with a defeated, yet completely firm voice, she continued to speak. "Anne Boleyn." The name left her lips as if the last time she'd spoken it had only been yesterday. At this, Alec blinked, leaning back slightly; and though Anne could see that he knew exactly who she was, she decided to continue speaking the words she wished she'd been able to tell someone centuries ago. "I was King Henry VIII's second wife. Mother of Elizabeth I. Executed in front of people who once chanted _witch_ behind my back because I couldn't father a child after my beloved Elizabeth; executed in front of people who _betrayed_ me. Executed for unjust reasons, for _lies_ that named me a whore. _That... _is who I am. " And at that exact moment, as a long exhalation of breath left her lips, Anne felt as if the greatest weight had suddenly been lifted of her shoulders.

Alec's stare continued to bore into her even when she stopped speaking; it made sense, he realised. How his Master had reacted to her, and even how _she_ had acted since the moment they'd captured her. She had been born into her lifestyle, not into his or subsequently those that were in his ranks. Anne, Alec realised, had been born, breed and died completely in her own rank. But now, she was not. "You _were_ a queen." He finally said, towering slightly above her, but with a tone slightly gentler than the one he'd used to address her before. "But no longer. You are a member of the Volturi guard now, of very little significance as of this moment. You do not hold any presence over me, _or_ others, and you will _not_ act as it." A muscle that tended to twitch in the heat of the moment did, not the place, but nevertheless it did. "You are _simply_ Anne, and I am _simply_ Alec. Nothing more, nothing less." Alec lingered for a moment to look into her eyes before he backed away to walk toward his apartment's door; he quickly opened it, and motioned for Anne to make her way inside with a nod of his head. "We begin tomorrow." He said, and without further ado he turned around and left down toward the long stairwell that they'd just climbed up, leaving Anne staring after him, and realising that she didn't know where she was, nor truly what had just happened, but that Alec had made it more than impossibly clear: she had better enjoyed the small show of highness that had been shown to her by the so called Master Aro, a Master that seemed to be now hers as well, because it would probably be the last.

**To Be Continued.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Kindness

One of the unfortunate things that Anne found of her undead state, was that slumber was completely inexistent to her; which meant that the thoughts that invaded her mind would not stop looping around endlessly. She'd almost died; had she said the wrong words she would be no more. Her mind had been looping through the same realisation for so long that she had watched the sun's rise from the seat near the window; She wouldn't lie, even to herself, by saying that the thought of escaping hadn't crossed her mind. It had; specially since it was the first time that Alec had left her completely on her own, yet the will to carry out the actions were inexistent. Out there she had the very possibility of death, at any moment, at any time. At that moment more than ever. Yet, there, in the Volturi castle, she had a chance to be a part of something again. Royalty, as Alec had put it, even if she resided on a prison for the rest of her existence. If anything, it was better than being dead.

A knock on the door interrupted Anne's longing reverie, though even if she'd been taken aback her eyes didn't stop looking through the fragile glass. "Come in." She said; and only after those words were spoken did her eyes leave the scenery outside of the window.

It was only a second after, that Alec stepped inside the room pushing past the door; his eyes, then, zeroed in on his trainee to offer her a slight smile. The argument they'd had only hours ago still played lively in his mind, and seeing her true appearance reminded him loudly of the things he'd said. Alec knew, though, that he would get used to who she was. Her appearance could potentially turn into a clean slate to work with, in a fucked up way, but he knew it would work. His steps echoed on the wooden floor as he stepped forward to drop the bag that, Anne suddenly realised, he'd been carrying around. "Get ready." He said.

Anne's eyes fell on the bag on the bed before she stood from her comfortable position near the window. "Good morning to you too." She murmured with a slightly raised eyebrow as her eyes lifted toward her guardian again. Both her arms rose to cross calmly against her chest.

Alec's hands lifted to lower his black hood to look over at Anne one more time. "Morning." His voice was calm, but his eyes didn't last long on her, for suddenly he found himself busy opening the bag to take out a light gray cloak and laid it across the coverlet just before he tossed the heavy-looking back under the bed. As Anne watched, Alec also, with a care he couldn't dare manage a month back, slid his own cloak off to lift the thick strap of Anne's forgotten shoulder bag; as his eyes lifted to look at her once again, he stretched his arm to offer her the bag. "I was told to discard this, but..." His shoulder shrugged before he manoeuvred his cloak to drape across his arm.

Anne's eyes widened instantly and her movements jetted to advance quicker than a blink to take her bag from Alec's hands, her own clutched the soft material against her chest, and only after the relief of having her belongings back, did she realise just how close she was to Alec, whose brows had lifted at her hastiness. Anne took a step back, her eyes lowered to look at the ground. "Thank you." She voiced, "It's my... I..." Alec's brows furrowed at her strange pauses, surprised to find an equally furrowed expression on her face when she decided to look at him again. "Did you look inside?" She asked.

"Of course not." Alec's voice echoed slightly offended. The few locks that rested on his forehead dancing along with his shaking head. "I may be rude, Ma-" His brow furrowed deeper and his throat cleared as he realised he'd been about to use the name he'd thought was hers. "Anne." He said again. "But I'm not _that_ rude." His eyes fell away from her again before he reattached his cloak defeated before he stepped towards the door. "Be ready and dressed in the hall as soon as possible." With a nod, and without daring to look at the once queen again, he exited the room and leaned against the closest wall, his eyes lowering to look at the ground as a heavy breath left his lips.

Anne stared at the place Alec had been standing on, with her bag tightly held against her chest, the gray cloak on the bed and a big ball of confusion rolling around inside her head. She couldn't understand what had just happened, yet she understood that she had to put on the gray cloak he'd left on the bed. _What can the big difference of a cloak on me be?_ she thought. She moved, nonetheless, to gently place her shoulder bag on the bed before her other hand lowered to lift the gray cloak, somehow managing to put it on in less than two minutes, and, with a breath, she took her bag again, turned around and headed for the door and an awaiting Alec outside. "Can I take my bag with me this time?" She asked as soon as she opened the door.

Alec's eyes lifted as soon as her soprano voice reached his ears. "Nope." He quickly replied before a thought crossed his mind in such a manner that it made his lips twitch in a smirk. "Or, you can. But I think you wouldn't want it to be destroyed." His smirk wouldn't waver.

"You're right." Anne admitted with a short sigh. "I truly wouldn't." She moved faster than air to leave her bag on the bed once again, regardless of the unavailability to fight the sudden anxiety of leaving her bag once again, she returned to Alec's side as fast as she'd left it. "So what am I destroying?"

"Destroying?" He asked before he turned to begin walking down the long hallway, with Anne behind, until they reached the long stairwell to lead her to the courtyard where they would begin her training. "You'll be attempting to." The smirk was ever present as Alec led her outside before his digits moved to untie his cloak to make it slid off, dropping it toward the ground. Curiously, Anne mirrored his actions and dropped her gray cloak on the ground beside her. "We're going to work on your combat skills first." He announced motionlessly before his features turned blank to turn toward Anne once again; he motioned her to step forward before he unceremoniously spoke. "Hit me."

At those two words alone, Anne's brows lifted in bewilderment. The word _attempt_ lopped inside her mind in Alec's voice as she remembered the one vampire she'd killed in a fire before. Sure, it'd been somewhat of an accident, nonetheless, she'd done it. Her eyes shifted from side to side before they fell on an awaiting Alec across from her. "I beg your pardon?" She asked, nearly as if he'd just asked her to undress in front of him, making Alec's lips twitch onto an amused smile. "Why would I do that?"

"Because I _said_ so." He replied with an exasperated breath, stopping himself from looking at Anne as if she were daft. He had, in fact, said they would train. One had to fight in order to train; _and who better than I to fight? _he thought. "So hit me." He finally ordered, highly aware of Anne's suddenly concerned gaze.

Her hands rested on his hips for a small amount of seconds before a sigh that matched Alec's left her lips while her crimson eyes studied him. Suddenly, she took a step forward to swiftly lift a hand directed straight to Alec's jaw.

He didn't even look like he tried too hard to catch her hand quicker than her reflexes could handle. "If I were a human, I would be yawning." He admitted, making the once queen frown slightly. "Again." He ordered without releasing her hand to make the next attack slightly more difficult.

Anne's frown only deepened as she attempted to pull her hand away, regardless of the disadvantage; she tried to move her free hand faster than the previous time, and this time, toward his chest; he only swiveled on his feet to let her hand miss him completely, twirling her around and twisting her arm quickly behind her back, the other across her chest as if he would never let go of her. When her body clashed backwards against his own, he heard as she grunted in surprise. With a smirk suddenly crossing his features, he lowered his lips to whisper in her ear. "Too slow." He announced. "You're going to have to work on that. Now try for escaping." His hands didn't move from his holding stance on her, but his grip did loosen slightly.

Her eyes were looking at the ground as she found herself trapped in Alec's arms, though, as soon as she felt his grip loosening even slightly, she moved to lift a foot to lower it and step as hard as her body would let her, right on the closest one of Alec's. A "mmmmph!" left his lips as soon as the crunching noise of the bones in his toes breaking reached both vampires' ears. Taking that small amount of time of Alec's pain and surprise, Anne turned in his arms before her own pushed him away as hard as she could, making an already startled Alec stumble back on the ground as she jetted at least two meters away from the boy on the ground; but then she stopped and turned around to face him; Anne knew she shouldn't feel bad for hurting Alec, but he'd asked her to do it. After all, he'd always been nothing but kind to her for most of the time they'd known each other. She simply waited.

"Hmm.." She heard Alec said as he stood from the ground, partially waiting for his foot to piece itself back together. "You seem to be good at escaping."

"I've been escaping my whole life." Anne admitted in a soft voice before adding, " Plus, you told me to." Anne said quickly from where she stood. Though the truth was that she already knew she was good at escaping. Survival, it'd been the one thing that had kept her going during all her existence. After centuries of it, she had to be good at it. She didn't exactly know why she was justifying herself to him.

"I did." Alec quickly said; his eyes studied Anne for a moment, and when he saw her relax, he saw the sign he'd known would come and he stroke. His full frame moved forward just as quick as she had moved, when he reached her his actions hit her, quite literally, by surprise. He took hold of her arm and pulled her over his head. Anne slipped through the air before his hand let go of her, allowing her to land against the hard ground with a thunderous thud. "Lesson one," Alec turned to look at the woman on the ground. "_Never_ let your guard down."

Anne's head shook in an attempt to clear her mind before she tried to quickly get back on her feet. "Noted." Her voice echoed in an upset tone as she turned to look at Alec again. This time he could see that anger was starting to light her features, and that alone made his lips curve in a satisfied smile. Anne quickly sprinted to attack, and though Alec slid to the side as fast as he could, her attack made contact with his shoulder, making it pop off of its place. He turned around and eyed her as his hand lifted to pop his shoulder back into place before he rolled his neck. _This is getting interesting._ "Looks like you have yet to knock me off my feet, your majesty." He quickly mocked a bow before he leaped off of the ground and dived for the once queen's feet.

Unlike the previous time, though, Anne was ready for Alec's attack; a moment had passed in which she had realised that they were fighting some sort of battle, which made her mind shift to think her life depended on defeating the boy. She managed to jump only half a second before his actions could knock _her_ of her feet, which made her land strongly, yet somewhat poorly right on Alec's back. Regardless of her advantage, her position didn't last long, for she had overlooked the soft material of his clothes. She could already feel herself slipping. Of course, Alec took advantage of this, and he rolled over enough to make Anne loose her balance. She fell once again; her eyes stayed on the ground as a deep frown overpowered her forehead. "You're starting to make me wonder how I've been alive for such a long time, Alec."

As he stood, Alec allowed his head to shake once again, but a soft smile crossed his lips. Both vampires faced each other, and only one moment after their eyes connected, Alec's features lit in awareness before he spoke. "We'll work on it." He informed her, knowing that from that moment on he wouldn't hold back.

**To Be continued.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Humanity

Alec turned to point towards one of the walls that lead to the smallest part of the garden that also lead to the outside world, the moon shone high in the sky, and Anne's eyes focused on its bright light. "Scale it." He ordered, making Anne's eyes fall on him once more.

"What?" She asked, her hues focusing on her guardian, who did nothing but nod at her. "Am I walking into a trap?" How could he be so sure she wouldn't run?

As if he were reading her mind, Alec smirked. "Not exactly. If you try to run, your life would be over faster than you can say 'I'm free.'" He motioned forward calmly. "Go on."

Her eyes narrowed on Alec only enough to determine she was better off doing what he said, then they shifted to look at the wall. It looked smooth; regardless of the bricks it seemed to not have any points where she could help herself upwards. Nonetheless she moved as fast as she possibly could toward the wall he pointed to before she started climbing it; at first it was a little hard for her to find a place to set her feet on, making her have to stay in one place for about a minute, trying to come up with where to put her feet, yet, somehow, it was only matter of her finding out how to do that to manage to climb a little more than half way up before she stopped again. In her mind she could only pretend to think she was escaping. That thought alone helped her try to find a solution to the strange climbing pattern she'd found. She knew that if she were still human she'd be sweating, or her heart would have stopped altogether. But after what felt like an eternity to Anne, and even more to Alec, who observed in interest with his arms crossed against his chest and intrigued tilted face, she reached the top. "Now what?" She asked, knowing very well that even if she was so high up, Alec could hear her without her needing to raise her voice.

Alec's arms uncrossed as a question rose inside him as he watched the once queen taking so long doing something that, even if he wasn't trained, it would take any vampire mere seconds. A moment later, his foot lifted in demonstration toward her. "Balance yourself on one foot." He lowered his own once again.

Anne breathed, concentrating on her body almost as much as if she were about to shift her features. Her arms lifted to her sides in a very lame human attempt at balance as she lifted one foot in front of her, which she accomplished successfully without moving too much. Yet, pride rose inside her, overwhelming her as she realised she'd done it, making the concentration she had accomplished to gain, leave as soon as it left. Her balance seemed lost, and she found herself unable to hold on any longer before she started falling fast toward the ground.

Alec's brow lifted for merely a second as he realised that his thoughts were correct. "BALANCE YOUR-" A groan left his lips before he sped towards the spot she was surely to land on. "MALEDIZIONE!" He yelled. As if in slow motion, Alec graved the collar of her shirt and threw her to the ground, granted, a lot slower than she would have landed if he hadn't come to her aid. His knee clanked against hers as he tumbled next to her. "Woman!" He said, his eyes scanning her quickly before settling on her arms as she moved to sit. "Are you really going to be a damsel in distress!?" He knew, after what he'd realised, that his words were slightly unfair.

"No, I'm not." Anne said clearly irritated as she sat up on the ground, clearly fighting against the urge to pull on her own hair in annoyance of her own actions. Alec's brow rose as he sat close to her. "I lost concentration." She admitted. "I keep losing concentration." Her hands beat at her clothes to dust them off.

Alec almost felt bad for making his trainee angry, but he knew that these things needed to happen now, that they were fixable, instead of some day that her life could be in the line while saving the Volturi. _How ironic, _he thought. _Only a few days ago I'd thought I'd end up killing her. _"I need you to answer me something with as much honesty as you can." Anne's eyes looked directly into Alec's with that frown completely frozen on her forehead. Alec took that as the green light to ask. "Exactly how long did you hide as a human for?"

The question seemed unusual at that moment for her, and even though she'd already shared more with Alec than she had with absolutely anyone else, she knew that it would probably be in her best interest to speak the truth. "I only truly faced and learnt what I was a month before I went to that island you came to find me in." She confided reluctantly. Alec nodded; he'd been right. "I just wanted to survive," she continued, "so I learnt to only feed whenever I absolutely needed to. Of course I suspected; it's not like there is not lore on our kind. What human needs to drink blood to be able to be around humans without wanting to kill them one by one? Even worse, what human lives centuries without aging once." Alec's lips twitched into a small smile. "But I never faced it. I hid looking like whomever I drained, living their lives. Working, living and speaking like a human. Regardless of the thirst. I didn't cross paths with many vampires; if any." Her eyes connected with Alec's, whose eyes had never left her. "The man that changed me didn't exactly explain anything. Other than 'your majesty, you'll start craving blood soon.' To be honest I thought it was my fever taking over and making me hear things."

Alec nodded before letting out a small sigh while his eyes lowered for a second before connecting with hers once more. "Did you ever give in to your abilities?" He asked, searching her eyes for an answer. When Anne's head tilted slightly to the side in confusion, he explained. "Running faster than humanly possible, not breathing for longer than ten minutes," he looked over to the wall behind him to motion it before his eyes returned to Anne again. "Climbing walls or trees or anything, jumping from them."

Anne's head shook. "No." She replied, her frown returning smaller than before. "I never did any of that. I was in denial..." Her eyes lowered. "Up until that island I didn't want to believe what I was, it wasn't holy. It was monstrous." In her mind, the image of her mother's disappointment seemed seared. The one time she'd let her down enough for her to show it; she wondered just what she would say at her nature now.

Alec's eyes searched her features in wonder; the human way her chest lifted and lowered in little motions as she breathed in air. The soft colour on her cheeks that wasn't as pale as any vampire's should be, yet her skin still looked as perfect as pure porcelain as her nature made it, and her lips, nearly as pink as a human's. Could the way she looked and acted be dire consequence of her eminent holding back of her true nature for centuries? Could she be weaker than other older vampires because she never gave into her abilities? Would he actually have to teach her everything as if she were a newborn minus the innate ability that came with having just been turned? "I reckon I fed more in my three months in that island than I did in five years." Anne suddenly informed him, pulling both of them out from their philosophical reveries. Alec's head bobbed in a nod as a decision formed inside his mind; his hands moved to the ground as he manoeuvred to lift himself from the ground before he offered the once queen a hand. "Come on. Get up and close your eyes."

Anne naturally took Alec's hand as her well brought manners told her to do when a man offered her a hand. As she stood from the ground with her guardian's help, a concerned and slightly confused frown crossed her features; her eyes searched his for a reason to his odd request, but she found none. "What are you going to do, Alec?"

"I'm going to teach you how to be a vampire." He said as he let go of her hand, allowing a soft smile to cross his lips. "Go on." He urged her with a nod of encouragement, to which Anne nodded in a smaller motion than could be seen before her eyes slowly shut. "Now, imagine the wall." Alec started, his eyes keen on Anne's features. "Focus completely on the wall. Think of it, where the spots your feet landed in were, your hands, your eyes." His voice faded, waiting, giving Anne time as he walked slowly around her until he stood behind her. "Now think of how you felt before you pulled a Humpty Dumpty." Anne's lips twitched into the smallest of smiles at this, which made Alec grin even slightly as he rounded her to face her once more. "Balanced." He continued. "In control." Slowly, he approached her, raising one of his arms to rest on her shoulder seconds before he carefully moved to lower himself for a moment to take hold of the back of her knee so that he could lift her leg. Anne gasped, and her lids fluttered. "Keep your eyes closed." Alec encouraged. "Just focus on your balance." Alec watched as Anne forced her eyes to remain closed. Her mind focused solely on her own body, her balance; her mind became quiet, fully aware of every single cell of her body, specially the places she could feel Alec's contact, mimicking almost the same way she always felt when she was about to shift. Her breaths came calm; not that she needed them, but they relaxed her. Only, suddenly, her concentration seemed to be more needed when Alec clearly let go of her. She focused, feeling as light as she'd ever felt; she almost felt like she was floating as she balanced on her one foot. Alec smiled genuinely as he watched, even as his arms lifted to cross against his chest; after a few quiet moments, he spoke. "Now, open your eyes, Anne." Her lids slowly lifted to reveal her shining blood red hues. Nodding toward the wall with a soft motion of his head, Alec encouraged his ward. "Scale that wall."

Anne's head bobbed in a nod, the tips of the hair at the end of her side bangs whipped against her cheek, her lower lip found itself nervously trapped between her teeth as she tried not to let the pointless unfounded nerves take over her. She moved toward the wall and reached for it slowly, remembering the way her mind felt only moments before while Alec talked her though her concentration before she stared going up the wall. The journey up was a lot easier the second time, faster, even. So much that she had even fund herself surprised when she reached the top. Slowly, she stood, but this time she gulped too. Her eyes moved to look down at Alec just like she had before. "Do I close my eyes here too?" She asked in a calm tone.

"Balance on one foot." Alec said, partly ignoring her answer. "You just did it. Your eyes won't be closed when you have to balance on something thinner than that wall and have nowhere to go." His lips lifted slightly as the words Anne had told him before ran in his mind. Survival. She'd always wanted to survive; a survivor's worse fear was... "Unless you want to die." He finally finished.

At those words Anne froze. He'd used the magic word; she didn't want to die. After a deep breath she started lifting her foot, forcing her mind to be fully concentrated on her body's movements just the way she had done back on the ground. Her hands were completely still at her sides, Alec's words echoing in her mind along with the full bodied concentration of every single one of her limbs. This time her foot was fully outstretched in front of her, the unnecessary breaths came slowly, pure relaxation running inside her veins.

Watching the sheer concentration etch across Anne's features, Alec couldn't help but feel proud of her. She was actually doing what they had practiced moments ago. Alec found Anne, thus far, to be a pretty good trainee. He almost felt scared of speaking his next words; but that was his job, after all. "Jump." He called toward her.

Anne's eyes shifted toward Alec's in a whip as she nearly lost her balance with the sudden surprise of his words. "What?!" She called, lowering her foot to regain her balance without falling like before.

"Jump!" He repeated with a short frown as he continued to keep his arms crossed. "Land on your feet," he advised. "Don't forget to bend at the knee, or you'll break your legs."

"But you can't be serious!" Anne quickly claimed from her position at the wall.

"DO IT, ANNE!" Alec's voice echoed in commandment, encouraging the once queen to do as she was told.

_So _that _was the catch. _Anne thought as her eyes looked at the ground right below her. Her head shook for a short moment before she forced her own mind to concentrate once again. Nothing around her mattered other than her concentration. So she lifted her leg again, but this time, she allowed her eyes to look down at the ground so far away from her current position . She knew she couldn't let the concentration slip away again. Anne slowly remembered the way she had felt as if she'd been floating when she'd been standing back on the ground; as she concentrated, the same weightless feeling ran through her body, and before she even realised what she was doing, Anne stepped away from the edge of the wall she'd been balancing on. _Bend your knees, _she reminded herself repeatedly as she fell. _Bend your knees. _She could hear Alec's words echoing in her mind now. When she hit the ground, though, it turned out to be different; yes, she'd bent her knees, and no, her legs had clearly not broken, yet the impact hurt the soles of her feet in such a way that it hadn't been very long before she found herself kneeling on the ground. Her hands rested in front of her on the ground before she let out an incredibly annoyed sigh. "Damn it." She whispered.

Alec's brow lifted at the whispered annoyance, but a halfway proud smile lifted the corners of his lips as he pushed himself to walk toward his ward. She'd done it, almost perfectly, she'd done it. So when he stood right above her, with the smile still lighting up his features, he willed his arms to uncross to offer her one hand once she looked up at him, pausing for a second for her to take his hand before he said. "Again."

**To Be Continued.**


	10. Chapter 10 - Boleyn

_**~May 1536~**_

_She waited patiently in the darkened walls of the royal cell, the calls of her people yelling out her name with pure hatred echoed against the hard rock walls; were they ever on her side? She wondered, but no, not when their king claimed to have been bewitched. Her hands trembled only slightly as she held the rosary in her dainty fingers, the words of a prayer whispered from her rosy lips. The fear in her soul was eminent, even after Mary, her sister, had come to talk to her. Anne's hair was hidden under one of her many royal headpieces, not one hair out of place, her eyes shut as she prayed for her lord to forgive her. "Forgive thy people, my lord, and take my soul into thy grasp if thou wishes it; have my fate be whatever, in the end, pleases thee." _

_A soft creaking sound came from behind her, and Anne's eyes opened slowly, the same way her praying words faded away. "Your majesty." A film female voice said behind her; a voice she recognised well as one of her court ladies. "It's time." She could hear the sadness in the girl's voice, and she wondered if maybe not everyone was against her, she liked being able to know this before her life came to an end. Many more steps approached the big room as she stood from her kneeling position, and when she turned, three ladies and two guards stood awaiting on the open doorway. They bowed respectfully, for the very last time toward their queen. Setting the rosary on the dark wooden surface of the little table inside the cell, she walked; her hands crossed lightly on top of the other as she touched the stomach that was filled with fear. _

_Moments later, her court ladies walked in front of her, the guards behind, but the silence that had suddenly powered the streets seemed too loud for her. _They are forced to remain quiet, _Anne thought as the faces of many people dressed in black lowered as they saw her, one last forced show of respect to the queen they never truly willed to honour. When her ladies stepped up four little wooden steps, she paused. A pause that would look like nothing to everyone else than allowing her hands to grip her skirts tight to lift them in a short motion so she wouldn't fall while climbing the steps. But those four wooden steps seemed to high, and though she knew she was slowly walking the few last steps that would lead her to her death, she forced herself to climb them. _

_The faces of many silent people faced her as she stood straight on top of the wooden platform; the sky was a darkened shade of gray as it filled with clouds. Anne's ladies moved forth to remove the headpiece she wore, to reveal a perfectly made braided bun covered by a thin white satin sheet, and as every quiet eye of her people judged her when her ladies stepped back, Anne decided to speak. "__Good Christian people," She started, "I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul."_

_The whole place remained quiet, not a whisper, not a breath could be heard; not to anyone but Anne herself. She heard the soft steps behind her as they approached her, and her hands lifted slowly to remove the only piece of jewelry she ever adored. The pearl necklace adorned with a "B". A piece that her father had given her; the only thing she ever owned that would ever remind her of who she truly was. As it slipped from the soft skin of her neck, she stretched a hand to give her precious necklace to one of her ladies, and merely seconds later, the executioner put a hand gently on her shoulder to encourage Anne to kneel. "To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul." She whispered, over and over until the words faded away with the sound of a slash..._

_Her eyes opened days later, she could hear nothing but her own breathing, in the piercing darkness; did they spare her life? She wondered, but she knew they hadn't, for she could remember the piercing feeling of the blade against her neck. She was dead. Was that hell? That dark place where she found herself? Did her Lord not forgive her? "Help." She whispered, listening to the echo of her words toot against a placed that seemed incredibly small, something she confirmed the moment her hands tried to lift higher than a few inches in front of her. Suddenly she felt as if her breath had left her altogether. And her heart... it didn't beat, though she could swear she felt it. She hadn't been able to feel her heart since the day she tried to when she returned from the Boleyn household. Regardless of that she couldn't breathe, though she didn't feel as she needed it, but panic rose inside her. Anne's arms lifted to beat against the barrier in front of her; pure shock running though her features the moment her firsts made a hole in the barrier that, when she pulled back, made a drowning wave of dirt invade the space. Anne screamed for a moment before common sense told her to close her mouth so no dirt got in it. She beat around her, and with each hole she punched, more dirt came. _I'm buried. _She thought, moments before survival kicked in. With each movement she made she could feel more dirt covering her body, but she could move, she noticed, move enough to maneuver against the dirt to breathe. _

_As she climbed, she waited for her lungs to shout in pain in need of breath, but it never happened. She could feel the humidity of the dirt all around her, until one moment, one of her hands felt the calm breeze of spring. It only made her move faster; mere seconds later, Anne Boleyn took a deep breath of air, surprised when she felt no relief filling her when she did. Her eyes opened to see around her; it was night, and everything around her was quiet but the animals that wondered in the cemetery. She climbed away from the ground until she laid on the wet grass, looking up at the full moon. She stood, faster, she noticed, than any human would, and looked down at the place she'd just escaped from._

_Her eyes studied the place with dire attention as her hands wondered around her body to feel if she was complete, when her eyes fell on the gravestone that marked the place where she'd been buried. "And unmarked grave." She whispered, feeling like a bigger sense of betrayal overpowered her insides. "He dared." And right at that moment, her hand made contact with the soft pearls resting against her throat; her eyes lowered to try and see, but she simply felt her beloved B necklace resting against the hollow of her throat. She looked up at the unmarked grave before allowing her eyes to scan her surroundings, and after a couple of quick movements that would make the ground she'd escaped from look as if it had never been disturbed, she ran away from the cemetery with a million questions beating inside her mind. _

_**~Present Day~ **_

"All the King's horses, and all the Kings men put Anne together again..."

The words made Anne's mind whip back into the present with a slow lifting of her lids, and she remembered where she was. Anne had found the spot at the top of the wall between the courtyard and the garden to be the most relaxing place to think, and she remembered as well who was calling her. Though her mind continued wondering about the necklace she'd decided to keep hidden in her beloved shoulder bag for centuries, a smile edged her lips as she heard the voice of the only person she fully trusted in this prison of sorts. Her mind had been in the past, it seemed. Her guardian, Alec Greco, stood with his arms crossed against his chest near the tall wall where he'd realised his ward liked to spend her free time on. A small smirk etched onto his features as he watched her sit up on the top of that wall, and with great admiration as to what she had learnt, he watched as Anne didn't even bother to stand up before he pushed herself off of the wall. He knew that taking that jump a couple of weeks ago had been almost impossible for his once queen, but now, it seemed she _almost _found it easy. "You _really_ need to stop comparing me to a talking egg, Greco." She expressed as, after landing almost perfectly on her feet, she walked the few steps to approach his mentor.

"I should." He admitted with a smirk before shrugging. Alec's arms lowered to his sides and his eyes fell on the beautiful necklace that now rested on his ward's throat; a necklace he'd merely seen in paintings before made the smirk turn into a smile that he didn't allow Anne to see as he thought of how that necklace alone made her look like what she had once been: a queen. He turned from the castle wall and beckoned her forward, shaking his thoughts away before speaking. "We're going to the library today, Anne." He started, pausing somewhat dramatically before he delivered the rest of the news. "Then we're going out." He began walking through the side entrance's archway, and turned back slightly to make sure his ward was following.

He found himself having to stop, for Anne had. Her blood red eyes widened as she did so, and she stared at Alec the way he had secretly hoped she'd look at him: with bewildering excitement. "Out?!" She repeated. "We're going out?!"

"Mmhmmm." Alec said before motioning with his head to move on ahead. "That's what I said."

Anne finally started moving again, walking slightly faster until he was able to reach her guardian's side once again. "Why are we going out?" She questioned with a tone that reflected her excitement perfectly.

Alec's brow had been tempted to lift, but he didn't give any indication of it to Anne, instead his features changed to mock that of a human teenager before he rolled his eyes while he spoke. "I'm getting cabin fever. And I'm, like, totally sworn to protect you."

"I beg your pardon?" Anne asked with a light confused lift of her brow. Her arms lifted to cross against her chest.

"Never mind." Snorting, Alec couldn't help but nod in Anne's direction as both vampires descended a short staircase to step into the library. "Speech, language, dress... It takes quite a bit to get used to in this century, doesn't it? Especially from when I'm from." He admitted as he swiftly closed the door behind Anne and himself before escorting her into a small room off of the main library. The place served as sort of a gathering area for the guard when a few of them had a bit to just let loose and kill time, but today, the table was adorned with four small white and black packs. Alec's hand swiftly reached to pick up two of the packs before turning to a curious Anne behind him. "Have you ever worn contacts before?" He asked.

Anne, who'd been curiously wondering what his mentor was planning, suddenly looked down toward her feet; her lips suddenly trying to fight a smile before she dared look up toward Alec again; who only looked at her with confused eyes. "No," she started, "but I've never exactly needed to, you know?" one of her hands lifted to point at her eyes; eyes that, as the familiar concentration of her talent took over her, slowly started fading from the deep bright red of her natural vampire eyes to the soft liquid blue of her sister's human hues, the exact same way she'd done it all those centuries ago before her first so called death.

Alec blinked in short-lived confusion as he strangely forgot what his ward was able to do. His eyes narrowed in slight annoyance for a short moment before he looked away from her. He was still unaccustomed to a vampire so easily being able to change their shape, or, in this case, eye colour. Without a word, he turned to open the contacts he'd been holding before he swiftly placed them in his eyes.

By the time Alec turned to look at Anne again, with deep brown human orbs that he knew would dissolve in a few hours, he saw that she was smiling in quite an amused manner; an expression that didn't exactly last long, for as soon as Alec's hues met hers the smile faded away and this time, she had been the one that had to blink. Her mind, started wondering if the way he looked at her now was the way his eyes would have looked at her if he were human. "You know..." She started, pausing only for a moment to clear her throat to rid her mind from the thoughts that had formed. Merely seconds later, she smiled again. "You can say it, Alec. You're annoyed that you didn't have to teach me this one thing." Her arms rose to cross against her chest. "I bet you'd be furious if you saw my other trick."

His now brown optics rolled in mock annoyance before he spoke. "I don't think I can quite even put an emotion on you right now, Anne." Slowly, his brow rose as he turned around to toss the rest of the contacts into the bin. Curiosity beat at him in wonder of what his ward's other _trick_ could be, but suddenly he found himself anxious to get out of the castle; an anxiety that, he figured, Anne should have instead of him. Turning, he nodded toward the door for his ward to exit the room.

Her head nodded in response to Alec once before both of her arms dropped to her sides as she turned on her heels to walk out of the enormous library. Anne felt like she had to remind herself to ask her guardian later if she could come in and read some of the old books in the place, but as that thought crossed her mind while they exited the library, so did the fact that she had no idea where she had to head to leave the labyrinth-like castle. So with a somewhat calm smile, she turned to look at Alec before she spoke. "After you, my lord."

Alec's brow rose at her particular choice of words, nonetheless he decided to take the lead. With the only sound to accompany both vampires being that of their heels hitting the smooth floor, Alec escorted Anne out the big wooden door and into the dark night air surrounding the castle. He blinked at the contacts' annoyance. "How do you feel about a trip to the city?" A smirk suddenly dazzled his smile as he continued walking, scouting the castle's perimeter before he turned toward a very quiet Anne to quirk his brow, awaiting her answer as if she had a choice in the matter.

"I..." She started. What Alec didn't know, was that, for Anne, it'd been as if the interior of the castle had been too closed off, for the first thing she'd done as soon as his guardian had led her outside, had been to take a deep intake of air; whether she needed it or not had been unimportant, it'd felt nice. "Of course." She finally replied. "You might be used to going out, but, other than the court yard where we train, I haven't exactly been outside for nearly three months, if you remember, Alec."

His eyes fluttered to roll, but he immediately forced himself to play nice; she had a point. "Just remember what Aro said about trying to escape." He mindlessly reminded her with an almost daring smile before he jetted through the grounds of the castle towards the small city of Volterra; leaving Anne to do nothing but nod to herself in agreement that she wouldn't try to escape, and follow behind his mentor at a mirroring speed to his.

**To Be Continued**


	11. Chapter 11 - Greco

The city, of course, was absolutely beautiful, and Anne's eyes danced around the shops and shadowed alleyways. Of course, both vampires walked at a human speed, which wasn't as difficult for Mel to walk than it was to Alec; regardless of the near emptiness of the city, Alec grappled for Anne's wrist under the city light, deciding to keep a hold of her "just in case."

Anne's eyes widened as soon as she felt the tight hold of Alec's hand, and they quickly stopped looking around her to lower and see the way his hand gripped her wrist. At first it was like a knot had invaded her throat, but then she allowed her eyes to blink a couple of times and with a swift motion, she made her hand wiggle up in his hold until their fingers where interlaced in a soft hold. "I'm not going to try and escape, I don't want to die." Anne announced as she lifted her eyes to look into Alec's fake browns. "But if you so desperately want to make sure I won't run, at least make it look natural, Alec." His eyes searched hers for some sort of explanation, and his brows furrowed in slight surprise. Especially at the once-queen's next words. "I may be centuries old, but even I know that a man gripping a woman's wrist so tightly is not a good sign in public." The blue that had once been natural in her eyes didn't stop looking into Alec's own hues.

Alec was tempted to clear his throat uncomfortably and humanly, but he didn't, for he knew his ward was right. Instead, Alec turned and threaded through the small gathering crowd, leading Anne into a more remote part of the square. Anne's eyes watched Alec curiously as he seemed to struggle within himself with what to say, and she truly tried not to smile at his uncomfortable state. Anne was good at playing a role, it was the one thing she'd had to do from the day she was able to think for herself. _Sit properly, Anne._ Her mother would say, _Even if men's stories seem dumb pretend to be interested, they need to know they are _men_ who can woo a lady's heart. _All her life she'd been pretending to be what was appropriate for the moment, so it was completely rare for her to show when something felt uncomfortable; which also meant that it was easy for her to see when someone else felt uncomfortable. For example: Alec, at that very moment. "So, Alec." She said, determined to break the silence that had formed between them, "How long exactly have you all been here?" She questioned. "What exactly is it that you do?"

_"Us, _Anne." Alec looked at his ward with slightly widened but thankful eyes. "You're part of us now, and you'll have to start feeling like it eventually. Addressing yourself as part of the coven should help you." Anne's smile was slightly small before she allowed herself to nod. "But to answer your question..." He looked in front of them again as they walked. "The Volturi have been around for at _least_ three millennia. I've been a servant of my Masters for almost that long." Alec paused as his brow creased. "As for what we do..." A light smirk traced his features. "As I've told you before, we're the closest thing to royalty you'll find in the vampire world." Alec could see that the once queen was paying incredible attention to what he was saying, which made him, in a way, feel slightly proud. "We make sure everything is in order within the vampire world." He continued, "And we make sure that no other vampire is going to reveal what we are." His eyes lowered to give Anne a look, one that said _yes, someone like you. _"Whenever something goes wrong, we deal with it."

"So..." Anne's forehead seemed suddenly invaded by a light frown. "...that's why you went to the island?" Her eyes finally lifted to meet her guardian's. "To try and stop me?"

Alec's head shook for a short moment. "We were sent there to kill you, Anne." She suddenly had to fight against the need to stop in her tracks to take in what her guardian had just said; the sole thought of Alec and that blonde sister of his attempting to kill her the moment they say her... Anne couldn't help but wonder what had saved her. "It's hard to believe you haven't heard of us. It's not like we're a secret." Alec interrupted her reverie, "To vampires, at least. We don't mess in affairs of others unless its dire or they have something to offer us."

And then it hit her; Anne could remember clearly the way Alec's face had twisted with hate the moment he'd seen his own face looking at him when they met in the island. _My gift, _Anne thought, of course, once again, she had saved herself. "I was in human hiding, remember?" She finally forced her eyes to look at Alec's, that studied her curiously.

"Yeah." He finally said with a dismissive nod before he looked away from her, feeling his contacts disintegrating in his eyes. Alec's hand suddenly let go of Anne's before he began walking away from her, towards an alley they'd passed moments before. An odd jealousy crossed his being; it was a fact that he enjoyed being a vampire, a Volturi. But it wasn't like he'd ever been able to have a normal life eventually, regardless of the immortality, and Anne had. After being a queen, and after being executed, she'd been able to live centuries as a human, a normal life. Something that he hadn't exactly realized he wished for until almost that very moment.

When Alec entered the alleyway, he ducked into a darker corner and cherished the few moments before Anne followed. Anne, of course, suddenly felt as if she'd said something wrong, her arms lifted to cross against her chest and her eyes looked around the street as the night breeze so playfully made her hair dance. Finally, she started walking toward her guardian again. The blue in her eyes searched for his, that remained lowered slightly, in a very darkened alley. She stopped moving a foot away. "Alec?" She called.

Alec kneeled with his back against the nearest wall, and he didn't dare look up at Anne at all, just simply bobbed his head in a thought pattern. He suddenly felt compelled to tell Anne about his past in England. He knew they'd be spending a _lot _of time together, and she had already shared her own past. Or most of it, the rest, of course, he knew. The publicity of her history wasn't as unknown as Anne clearly wished it was. "I was born in England too, Anne." He admitted. "Grew up, mostly..."

Anne's eyes remained on a strangely, and to her, unusually devastated Alec. Why was he telling her this? Her eyes scanned the alley as a force of habit to see if there was anyone watching the pair, but of course, when she realized that there weren't, she simply looked at her guardian once again. Keeping her arms crossed against her chest, Anne took a couple of steps and lowered herself until she was sitting a few inches away from Alec's side. Searching his face for the strange emotion in Alec's features that he hadn't shown to her until now. "When was this?" She asked, regardless of her slight confusion.

Alec's eyes lifted to look at Anne, and he happened to let a bit of the smirk he'd shown moments ago wane though his lips. "Long before you were even thought of, your majesty." He said in the tone he always used when he addressed her that way. Anne let a small grin lift her lips as she waited for her mentor to continue speaking. Alec allowed himself to rise slightly so he could sit against the wall carefully. "When witches and the devil were all the rage..." His eyes lifted to meet Anne's, whose brows had risen. "A little more than in your time."

Anne's legs calmly crossed Indian-style as both her hands rested on the floor in front of her, careful enough for her purple lace dress to not lift inappropriately. Her hair cascaded slightly to the side as her head tilted to keep her very curious blue eyes on Alec's slightly redder hues. Curiosity beat at her more than anything, and though her manners told her to remain quiet and respect her guardian's privacy, her will said otherwise. So before she could stop herself, she heard herself ask. "Do you mind if I ask what exactly happened, Alec?" She forbid herself from looking away from his eyes.

Alec, of course, was surprised at how prying Anne was, but regardless of that he found himself feeling like it was in a way refreshing. "Jane and I were almost burned alive, Anne..."

_**~Summer of 800 A.D.~**_

_Alec Greco hurried, rushing down the road without a coat, to the river on the edge of their little village. They were after him, after all this time the villagers had finally turned on him and his sister and there was nothing he could do; they were doomed._

___The leader of their village had startled their parents in the dead of night, telling them to hand over the children without a fight and there wouldn't be any wrong done to the family. The pair, names long-forgotten, did fight; any parent who wouldn't fight for the life of their child isn't a parent at all. Alec had awoken first to the smashing of bowls and tapestries being throw around. He shook Jane awake and he hurried out of their home quietly, and ran, rushing down to the river on the edge of the village._

_On the banks of the lazy river, he crouched down by the water, shaking with fear but trying to remain strong for his sister. His hand was interlocked with hers the entire time. _There's no use in hiding_. the voice in the back of his young mind said. _They will find you and kill you.

_The Witch Twins, as they had been dubbed, waited by the river until morning, drifting in and out of sleep under a tree. Alec was never sure what they had waited for, for he was certain that his parents had been slaughtered in the villagers attempt to get to him and his sister. And that fact had come to be realized to be true once they were spotted by the mob that had been tracking them down._

_When the twins were marched into their village, they were privy to see their parents' heads on spikes. Jane had shrieked, but Alec had simply stared with a coldness that never quite left him. "Alec and Jane Greco," the village counselor started. "Because of your crimes against our Lord Jesus Christ by practicing witchcraft, you are to be burnt and the stake." _

_Alec stared ahead at the man who condemned him and his sister. He squeezed his sister's hand tightly and launched into a counter attack of verbal proportion. "Sir, you have known my sister and I since birth." He stated. " You have watched us as we have grown and know our parents well. So, tell me," he forbid himself from looking away from the counselor's way, "when, and where have we learned the witchcraft you say we possess?"__His brow raised. For a young man, it was very evident that he had inherited the aptitude of his mother and the temper of his father, for Alec had his temper reeled in for the moment as he waited for the village counselor to speak._

_But he didn't._

_He simply motioned for those that had equally watched Alec and Jane grow up to place them upon the pyre that had been prepared for them.__Once there, the only thing Jane had to say, the only thing she had dared say as a woman, was, "You're making a mistake."_

_And they were. Seconds later, Alec and Jane's eyes moved away from the villagers, instead, they looked toward the edge of the village, where the faint sound of screams and shrieks came from. In Alec's mind they were the voices from the other side upset for their life being cut short, but for Jane it'd been different; she, being a gifted young girl beyond human capabilities, that in no way approached the supernatural term of witch, knew what it was: It was their "Uncle" Aro. _

_Him and a galley of their friends were near; they were tearing through the town and the village counselor knew it. He threw the torch he had been holding into the pit and watched as it began a deadly march through each piece of wood and licked at Jane and Alec's feet. A blood curling scream ripped past Jane's lips and Alec tried his best to curl into himself, but to no avail. They were dying. They were being burned alive and no one was there to stop Death from taking them from this life. The flames continued up the pole they were roped against and Jane's screams worsened, Alec's curling tightening as groans made their way past his lips._

_Then next thing the pair were aware of, were the flames dying away and both of them being torn off of the pyre. The stench of scorched human flesh was the most present scent in the air; Alec wasn't sure if his stomach was churning because of the smell of if all of his insides were dying, but when he saw his "Uncle" Aro smiling his eerie smile, he knew it was because of the latter. He was dying, nearly dead. But he also knew that he would not be for much longer._

Anne's eyes danced on Alec's, looking from one eye to the other as she looked at the detail of the faded contact lenses, her brow furrowed in the slightest manner, but in her mind she wasn't noticing the faded contacts at all, she was, in fact, thinking very deeply about his words; an unnecessary blink made Anne nearly look at her guardian differently. Better; and then she realized why... "You were betrayed by your people." She stated, _just like I was, _she thought, unable to look away from her mentor. Her voice left her lips on a tone barely higher than a whisper. As it turned out, she _understood_ Alec's pain, after all.

Alec's eyes moved away from Anne's, and he took a silent moment to himself before he suddenly stood from the ground, almost completely surprising Anne. Brushing his hands against the back of his jeans and his shirt to rid it of the dirt, then he offered his hand to Anne, leaving her to answer her own question through his actions. Alec _did_ resent how he'd been turned; the Volturi, but he wouldn't say it out loud. He was loyal, after all; but that didn't mean he had to like what had happened so many years ago.

Anne's eyes lifted to look at Alec's offering hand, trying to fight against the way he seemed much more understandable in her mind before she spoke. "I suppose the trip outside is over, then?" She questioned as she took his hand and stood up from the ground, dusting her dress off as soon as Alec let go of his hold on her.

"For the moment." He announced, before nodding his head toward the street with a simply nod; with that, Anne allowed Alec to lead her back toward the Volturi castle the way they'd taken before, her mind reeling with questions, but forbidding herself from ever coming close to asking them at all.

**To Be Continued**


End file.
